Modular jacks and modular plugs for telephones are well known. There are situations, however, in the field of telecommunications, where it is desirable to connect two pieces of telephone equipment at one location in parallel with a telephone line at the same location. U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,702 discloses in detail a multi-outlet adaptor for plug-in telephones intended to provide multiple jack access at a single jack location. The adaptor as described in that patent is comprised of a two piece insulating housing, a series of blade contacts for piercing the insulated wire, and a series of insulateed wire conductors terminated at both ends with wire spring contacts.
The present invention is directed to the achievement of an adaptor of the general type as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,702, but having a plurality of one piece uninsulated conductor members which results in fewer parts, greater reliability, lower assembly cost, and other advantages as discussed below.
An important feature of the invention disclosed herein is that it requires tooling for only three different parts, two housing pieces, and the conductor members. The interlocking housing pieces are molded from nylon using straight action molding. The uninsulated one piece conductor members can be stamped and formed from sheet metal. The conductors, therefore, can be made automatically and quickly, thus reducing manufacturing costs. The use of only three different pieces and straight action molding also lower the cost of manufacturing and the assembly time required for each adaptor.